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Talk:Samuel D. Sturgis Jr.
I wonder if Sturgis's background as an engineer was supposed to be related to Hoover's making him Chief of Staff. A bit of a stretch, but the one did remind me of the other. Anyway, there must have been some reason for making a 36-year-old the Army's senior soldier. A little young for it, wasn't he? Even Abell was older. Turtle Fan 21:07, June 3, 2010 (UTC) :That thought occured to me as well, what with Hoover also being in the Corps of Engineers in 191. That probably accounts for why HT pulled Sturgis out of the hat, anyway. The youth part--who knows. Before the GW, the US seemed to be holding on to war heroes even when past their prime (see, e.g. Custer). Maybe Hoover wanted a bunch of fresh faces? TR 22:28, June 3, 2010 (UTC) ::Would Sturgis even have fought in GWI? He would have been 17 when it started and 20 when it ended. In OTL he graduated West Point in 1918. Maybe they sent the cadets to the front at some point and he earned his first promotion that way and graduated as an O-2. Now the US Army had a screwy rank structure in 191, as we all know, but surely they wouldn't make a man Chief of Staff if he weren't at least a lieutenant general--even if they had to promote him on the spot like they did when they reassigned Dowling gave DeFrancis the 11th Army, and had to spare themselves the ridiculous sight of a colonel commanding an army. ::So say Sturgis was an O-2 in 1918 and would have had fifteen years to make it to O-9--O-8 if we assume Hoover picked him while he was still a major general and gave him the third star so he wouldn't be the lowest-ranking officer in the room when he called a meeting. He would have needed six promotions in fifteen years. A promotion every other year is the usual rate for junior officers who manage not to get their wangs stuck in their zippers, but it slows down as you approach the top because there are fewer openings and because the authorities can and must be more discriminating, since high rank goes hand-in-hand with positions of great responsibility. And the rate of promotion is going to be even slower than usual in a peacetime army that was being demobilized and seeing its budget slashed from the year Sturgis graduated West Point till the Japanese got caught running guns to Canada. ::You sure we've got the right guy? There were other Sturgises. Turtle Fan 01:04, June 4, 2010 (UTC) :::His name is explicitly Sam Sturgis in TCCH. His father was also Sam Sturgis, but he died in 1933, and the scene is pretty obviously late in 1933. :::This could be a Daniel MacArthur. Or a Josephus Daniels. Not enough good info to say one way or the other. TR 01:31, June 4, 2010 (UTC) ::::Yes, and a name like Samuel D Sturgis, Jr would be given to any son of Samuel D Sturgis regardless of the circumstances of his birth. Still, at least HT gave us a name this time. Who was the Chief of Staff of the US Army in GWII? Damned if I know--I always thought it was John Abell, but I recently learned that that's not right. Who was the Chief of Staff of the CS Army in GWI? Damned if I know--I always thought it was Jeb Stuart Jr, but I recently learned that's not right, either. Turtle Fan 01:46, June 4, 2010 (UTC)